Eden and Rachel, but mostly Rachel

I just wanted to do a couple quick posts of some pictures of the girls.  Eden is such a great big sister.  She loves Rachel so much and helps me out with her so much.  One of Eden's favorite things to do is to try to "match" Rachel when I get her dressed.  She tries to wear the same colors and patterns.  So she was very excited when we got the girls matching jammies.  She wants to wear them every night.  Rachel doesn't seem to care whether she matches her sister or not, but as you can tell from the pictures, she does like to be by Eden.  Eden can always make her smile.

Rachel fell asleep on the couch one night leaning up against Andy and she looked so sweet I just had to snap a picture (or two or three...).

Rachel is now officially 8 months old.  She got her first tooth (bottom right front) the day before she turned 8 months.  We're still waiting for the other front bottom tooth to make an appearance.  She is getting really good at rolling and loves to be on the floor rolling around exploring.  All the rolling has thinned her out quite a bit too.  She's by no means skinny, but she's lost a couple chins and some of the folds in her thighs.  She's also sprouting some new hair on top.  She's got a great mohawk going on- we try to curl it a little bit.  She's recently discovered that we have a cat and it has caught her attention enough that she tries to say "cat" when she sees it.  So far, it sounds a lot like "dad" but we're working on it.  My mom says that "cat" was my first word, so maybe it runs in the family.  She just figured out clapping and signing "more" when she wants a snack.  Now if only I could get her to feed herself...  She's my little baby bird and will only hold her mouth open for food- she won't pick it up and put it in herself.  I also got her to start sleeping through the night this past month- it was a lot easier to do than I was expecting.  I just stopped feeding her when she cried and would instead give her back her binkie and walk out.  I thought she would cry for hours the first few nights, but she just went right back to sleep.  If I had known it would be that easy I would have done it months ago! That's our little Rachel at 8 months old.  We sure love having her in our family!

Utah

We've had a busy couple weeks at our house. My mom came out for a visit and to help us get ready to put our house on the market. She was incredibly helpful, and I don't think I could have done everything without her. The girls had a great time with Grammy (and unfortunately I didn't get any pictures!). Rachel also turned seven months while she was here. I can't believe she is getting so big! time has just been flying by and it seems like every time I look at her she is learning new things and getting older. We love having her in our family.

Three days after she left, we flew to Utah for a week for Andy's brothers wedding.  We had a good time with Andy's family- and this time Rachel didn't cry every time Grandma Sha Sha looked at her, so that's definitely some progress!

Ben and Ashley's wedding was beautiful and Eden loved being a flower girl. She took her title very seriously and was so excited to have a new dress to match her cousins'. We're very happy to have Ashley in the family now and we hope she enjoys being a Craven!
The big girls at the temple.

The bride and groom.

Our own happy little family.

The big girls with Grandpa.  They had such a good time playing together!

Happy Mom's Day!

Happy Mothers Day to all you moms out there.  Here's a special shout out to my own mom, who is the best mom a person could ask for.  She is a wonderful example to me and I hope I can be a good of a mom to my girls as she is to me.  A shout out to my mom-in-law as well, who is the best mother-in-law a person could ask for.  She's also a great example to me and did a fantastic job of raising her son to be a great husband.  I couldn't ask for better women in my life. 
Yesterday was a gorgeous day here in Omaha.  The weather was perfect and we had to get outside to enjoy it, even though we should have been inside packing boxes.  Andy had the day off and we had to get outside on the grass enjoying the breez and spending time together as a family.  As any proud mother would, I have pictures of my cute girls to show off.  I just can't resist these two!  I'm so glad to be their mommy and they have blessed my life so much!

Giggles

I was feeding Rachel the other night and she got a case of the giggles.  I wasn't doing anything unusual but she seemed to think I was very funny and was laughing at everything I was doing.  I had to take this little video of her because I love to hear her laugh.  Please excuse the baby food all over her face!

May Day

Happy May to everyone! It's nice and sunny today (although still a little chilly) and our flowers are cheerful and blooming. Sunshine, flowers and little girls dressed up for church are too much for me to resist so I had to take a few more pictures today.

I had a great birthday this week.  Andy and Eden surprised me with breakfast and I was once again spoiled with gifts and love.  Andy surprised me by getting a babysitter for the girls (thanks again Howards!) and taking me to see Les Miserables that evening.  It was a lot of fun and I don't mind turning a year older if that's how it's going to be!

Today in church someone was telling a story about a little girl who told her dad that he was her best friend.  Eden looked at Andy and said, "They must be talking about you and me!"  It was really sweet. 

Not much else going on here right now.  We met with a realtor this week and are probably going to be putting our house on the market on May 19th (3 years to the day of when we closed on our house).  If any of you know someone in the Omaha area looking for a house, point them in our direction.  We've loved living here and hate to leave this house that's been so good to us.  We started packing up a couple boxes this week as well- things we aren't going to be using for the next few months.  We're looking forward to moving on, but sad to be leaving so much behind.  Hope everyone is doing well today!

Happy Easter!

I hope all of you are having a wonderful springy Easter.  We took some pictures this afternoon of our girlies all dressed up for church and we thought they were cute enough to send out into the blogging world.  Spring is trying to make it's way to us this week.  We've finally got a few daffodils blooming in our garden (Eden has been checking on them every day for weeks now) and she was so happy to see them today.  I hope you all have a warm and happy week ahead of you!

Randomness from this week

Just a few pictures from this past week.  We've had some really great weather so we've been outside playing at the park and having a good time while it lasts. Rachel is finally getting the chance to spend time outside (the weather hasn't been good since she was born!) and she loves it.  She's such a happy girl and she loves to sit in her stroller and watch Eden play at the park. 

Rachel is our little night owl.  She won't sleep in her crib until some time after 10:30 at night.  She'll sleep fine on the couch but if we try to lay her in the crib she wakes up.  She loves her little softie blankie and when we give it to her she gets so excited.  She bites it and rubs her face in it and then snuggles up with it.  She falls asleep faster if she has her softie to hug.  It's really been a hit.  Thanks Karla!
 

Just another cute Rachel pic.  She 's such a smiley girl but I can't seem to catch those smiles on camera.  As soon as she sees the camera, she stops smiling.  Maybe I've taken too many pictures...

Yesterday afternoon we were the napping house.  Andy had worked the night shift the day before so he was home sleeping.  We'd spent the morning at the park and we were all worn out.  Rachel fell asleep and I decided to take a little nap while Eden was in quiet time.  Eden fell asleep too (a rare and welcome event) and it was so nice and peaceful.  Eden woke up after a while and crawled up next to me on the couch and fell asleep again.  It was so nice to cuddle with her because she is usually so busy and won't hold still long enough for me to cuddle with her.  After a little while she moved to the floor and fell asleep again.  I wanted to take her picture because she looked so sweet but she woke up before I could take it.  She's still a cutie though!